Beer Depletion with Pete Slosberg

I was introduced to Pete Slosberg via email through a mutual friend. I wasn’t sure what to make of guy when I first met him. This is after all the guy who put the “Pete” in Pete’s Wicked Ale. He could be a totally cool guy or he could be a totally not cool guy. Thankfully, he’s a totally cool guy.

Every so often, Pete will have what he calls Beer Depletion parties. As the name implies, the entire reason for getting together is to drink beer. Pete travels quite a bit and just about everywhere he goes, people give him beer. It’s the price you pay for trailblazing the path for the rest of us. In the time I’ve known him, he’s invited me to 4 of these and this is only the second one I’ve been to. You can read about the first here.

This most recent Beer Depletion party had the most people in attendance as these things have had. All together there were 12 of us. I remember almost everyone’s name, just don’t test me. While Steve Donohue from Firehouse didn’t make it, Alec, brewmaster from Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, and his wife did.

According to my notepad, we drank 12 beers but from what I was told, two more beers were consumed before we got there. I did my best to take notes and photos but when you’re presented with a lot of beer, the eventually happens: you stop taking notes and photos. Here’s a rundown of the beers we had with photos afterwards. I’ve gone back and forth between smaller thumbnails and larger photos, so let me know if the larger ones are better than the smaller ones.

• Marin Brewing ESB – This was an easy drinking 5% beer. Pete wanted to start us off light. Unlike a traditional ESB that is mild in flavor and aroma, Marin’s ESB had a lot more aromatics and a more noticeable malt sweetness. Good beer.
• Halfmoon Bay Double IPA – I found this beer to be a balanced beer for a double IPA. The hop character had a citrus and fruity aroma and flavor. The hop bitterness was smooth and not harsh while the malt character was enough to support. You could easily put a few of these back as they’re so easy drinking.
• Dogfish Head Red & White, 10% ABV – Dogfish Head is known for their extreme beers. As their motto goes, “Off-centered beers for off-centered people”. That being said, Red & White is an Imperial Witbier. In addition to being brewed with corriander and orange peel, the beer is fermented with Pinot Noir juice. The batch is then split and allowed to age in Pinot Noir barrels while the other with oak staves before they’re blended back together. The result? A beer with the citrus, herbal and spicy notes of the style with subtle wood flavors (and astrigency). Despite being 10% ABV, this beer hides it pretty well. A unique and great tasting beer.
• Marin Tripel – A little light on the Belgian yeast character, sweetness and fruit character the style is known for. Not a bad beer but not a great one either, it’s good.
• 21st Amendment Double Tripel – From what Pete says, this beer was brewed by a guest brewer but was on tap at 21st Amendment. This beer is a hybrid style, it’s a double IPA crossed with a Belgian Tripel. It had the high hop bitterness and hop character of the double IPA and the yeast-derived spicy notes of a Belgian tripel. Houblon Chouffe was the first brewery to popularize the style. A pretty good beer.
• Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball 8.7% ABV – This beer is Lagunitas’ winter warmer. It has a brown sugar malt sweetness with noticeable alcohol sweetness. Despite my not having much to say, this was a good beer.
• Allagash Hugh Malone, 9.5% ABV – The name, “Hugh Malone”, is a play on humulone, one of the three alpha acids present in hops. This is a beer that is hopped in multiple places: first-wort hopped, in the boil, in the whirlpool and then dry-hopped. Despite all the hops crammed into this beer, this beer has a soft malt character and a smooth bitterness. While not as bitter as its name would suggest, Allagash is going for more hop complexity than over-the-top bitterness.
• Valley “Sour” Stout – I’ve heard good things out of Valley Brewing, mainly that they had a sour beer program. When Pete said this beer was a stout, I was a little disappointed until I started hearing that this was a sour stout. My curiosity was immediately piqued and I couldn’t wait to try this beer. Unfortunately, my curiosity wasn’t rewarded. I found this beer to have a hot spicy pepper taste with noticeable acetic sourness. It wasn’t pleasant at all and I had to dump this beer. I’m not ready to write this brewery off but this was not a good first impression.
• Brideport Raving Mad Imperial Porter, 7.8% ABV – This beer was the one with the 3-D label and accompanying 3-D glasses. I thought this beer had a deep roasted malt character, almost burnt, in both the aroma and flavor. Hop bitterness was medium/medium-high but was obscured by the malt flavors. The body was lighter than I had expected. An OK beer.
• Lagunitas Reuben & the Jets, 8.6% ABV – This was the last beer of the Reuben series. Primarily a malty beer with caramel notes in the aroma and flavor. From what I remember, this was a good beer. Judging from the dearth of detail in my notes, I can only surmise I was getting pretty drunk.
• Avery 15, 7.68% ABV – This beer was Avery’s 15th anniversary ale. Not brewed to any particular style, this was a different beer than all the others we’ve had tonight. Avery experimented and had some fun with this beer brewing it with various fruits, spices, herbs and then fermenting it with brettanomyces. The result? A beer with a strong brett character that reminded me of baby poo. Thankfully, this beer tasted much, much better than it smelled. It was sweet with lots of fruit character, low hop bitterness, tart brett flavor. I wish I had another bottle of this to enjoy more fully.
• Marin Imperial Porter, 10.5% ABV – This beer was aged in barrels once used for chocolate liquors. This beer had nutty, chocolate, coffee flavors with slight caramel notes. Reminded me of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout. Really good beer.
• Lost Abbey 10 Commandments, 9% ABV – What a great beer to end the night with. Great complex malt charcter with dark fruit notes and a warm alcohol character. Another beer I wish I had another bottle of.

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